Tuesday, November 22, 2005

More Fodder For The Rev: David Ortiz Says Manny Is Gone

"Manny is not returning to Boston" according to an AP report that has David Ortiz claiming some super-secret circumstances that "only he and his family know" and "He wants to go to a team in the west." Via BTF.

Update: The Boston Herald says Seattle is also a team Ramirez is interested in going to. Sure, just like the Angels are pursuing Paul Konerko and Carlos Delgado. It's called negotiating leverage...

Well, seeing as how the BoSox just added approximately $30 million to their payroll for the next two years without getting a CF or 1B, I think the odds of Man-Ram getting traded just skyrocketed.

The fact remains that the Angels are one of few teams that (a) is allegedly acceptable to Man-Ram, (b) is able to take on Man-Ram's contract (especially with the recent confirmation that the team isn't on the hook for the dreaded luxury tax in 2006, and possibly not for 2007 either), and (c) can offer Boston a 1B/OF and/or CF with an expiring contract, a Major or Minor league MIF (Kennedy, Izturis, Callaspo, Aybar), and a young starter (Saunders, Bootcheck, possibly Shell), or possibly a bullpen arm (Donnelly, Woods or Yan), while saving them money.

You could certainly read the Konerko/Delgado acquisition "news" in the paper as a smokescreen -- and not a particularly compelling one -- to gain some negotiating leverage. The Red Sox want, oh, I don't know, Kotchman, Morales, and Wood in exchange?